Libraries in Singapore

Mittermaier, Bernhard

Book	PreJuSER-58901

Libraries in Singapore

Mittermaier, B.FZJ*

2007
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Zentralbibliothek, Verlag Jülich
ISBN: 978-3-89336-450-3

Jülich : Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Zentralbibliothek, Verlag, Schriften des Forschungszentrums Jülich : Bibliothek / Library 17, (2007)

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Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/2640

Abstract: Singapore is a small land that lies on the other side of the world from a European point of view. Why should the libraries there be of interest from a German perspective? In any case, there is quite a lot of interest in the country. As Ulrike Lang, Chairperson of BI International wrote in the 2005 annual report: “Singapore is fast becoming the most popular destination for German librarians. It has been visited not just by individual travellers but also by a group from Section 2 of the DBV.” [Lang 2006]. The author of this book can also be counted amongst the individual travellers. Together with Dr. Raphael Ball, Head of the Central Library at Research Centre Jülich, I had the opportunity to visit a number of libraries in Singapore in March 2005 thanks to generous financial support from BI International [Ball and Mittermaier 2005a]. In 2005 alone, Singapore was visited by (at least) one group of directors from various Goethe Institutes [Paulini 2005], a group of directors from public libraries [Yeo 2005a], the Head of the Centre for Interlibrary Loans Berlin-Brandenburg in Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin [Berghaus-Sprengel 2006], and the former acting director of Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Köln [Gabel 2006]. Regular “library tourism” has existed for a while in Singapore, with librarians from Australia [Clifford 2003], Denmark [Hapel et al. 2001], Germany [taz 27.04.2001; Flemming 2005; Schwarz 2005], the Netherlands [Heemskerk 2004], Norway [Gabrielsen 1982], the United Kingdom [Tedd 2002] and the USA [Hayworth 2000; Kent 2002; Abraham 2005] visiting the country. The reason for and destination of all of these trips are the “indisputably most modern libraries in the world today” [Bertelsmann-Stiftung and Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Bibliotheksverbände e.V. 2004], which were part of an international best practice study conducted as part of the “Bibliothek 2007” (Library 2007) project. The results of this, including the “wallflower syndrome” of public libraries in Germany compared to Singapore, were even published in the German daily press [Die Welt 16.03.2004; Süddeutsche Zeitung 16.03.2004; taz 16.03.2004]. What motivated the librarians from Jülich was not simply to write yet another - 8 - progress report to add to the existing pile. Rather, this paper focuses on academic libraries for the first time, whereas up until now public libraries, including the National Library and the National Library Board, have been the focus of attention. It will therefore certainly be of interest to academic libraries and special libraries in Germany to find out what they can learn from a country that is not unjustly held up as an example to public libraries.

Note: Record converted from VDB: 12.11.2012

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